-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- After he announced the resignations of four top officials in his administration in 1973 , Richard Nixon swore he was done with talking about Watergate , according to the last batch of tapes released by the National Archives .

Gone were his chief of staff , H.R. `` Bob '' Haldeman ; his domestic affairs adviser , John Ehrlichman ; White House lawyer John Dean ; and Attorney General Richard Kleindeinst , a longtime friend . Nixon broke the news in his first public address about the scandal that would eventually bring down his presidency -- and as he tried to console the jettisoned Haldeman , he insisted it was his last .

`` Well , its a tough thing , Bob , for you , for John , the rest , '' he said after the April 30 , 1973 , speech . `` But goddammit , I 'm never gon na discuss this son of a bitch Watergate thing again . Never , never , never , never . ''

Of course , like much of what he had just told Americans , it did n't turn out to be true . Nixon would be forced to deal with Watergate over and over again in the next year or so , culminating with his own resignation in August 1974 -- a development forced by the discovery of conversations like those released Wednesday by the National Archives .

The 340 hours of recordings are the last installment of a record that has kept historians busy for four decades . They run from April 1973 through that July , when the microphones were turned off after a probing Congress learned of the tapes .

The new batch includes calls of support from two future presidents following the April 30 speech : Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush .

`` We 're still behind you out here , and I wanted you to know that you 're in our prayers , '' said Reagan , then governor of California and a rising conservative star .

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`` How nice of you to say that , '' Nixon replied . `` Well , let me tell you this . That we can be -- all each of us has a different religion , you know ? But goddammit , Ron , we have got to build peace in the world , and that 's what I 'm working on . ''

Bush , then the Republican Party 's chairman , told Nixon , `` I was really proud of you , and my golly , I know it was tough , and I just wanted to tell you that . '' Nixon replied , `` Well , good for you , George . ''

The Watergate scandal began to unravel with the June 1972 break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee . Five operatives of the Nixon re-election campaign were arrested in the attempt to illegally wiretap phones at the offices , located in the Watergate office building in Washington .

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The subsequent investigations revealed that within days of the arrests , Nixon had discussed warning FBI agents away from the burglary probe by having the CIA claim the break-in was part of a national security operation . Nixon resigned shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered him to turn over a recording of that conversation to investigators .

Other tapes out Wednesday include Nixon discussing China with National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger and meeting with evangelist Billy Graham , the widow of baseball star Roberto Clemente and the Brazilian soccer legend Pele , who spoke of wanting to spread his sport to the United States . He 's heard speaking with a variety of world leaders , including West German Chancellor Willy Bradt and Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau .

The tapes captured a June 1973 summit meeting between Nixon and Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev , in which Brezhnev bemoaned complaints about the world 's two superpowers .

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`` There are some people who keep throwing in this idea of there being two superpowers in the world who are out to dictate their , as they say , dictate their will , to foist their will upon others , and so forth , '' Brezhnev said . `` Now , but , are we to blame for being big ? Are we to blame for being strong ? What can we do about it ? That is the way it is . ''

And Nixon talks of winding down the war in Vietnam and the return of American prisoners of war , justifying the December 1972 bombing raids on Hanoi that he credited with their release .

`` The North Vietnamese had reneged on the agreement , they had attached conditions with regard to return of POWs , they had attached conditions on the return of civilians themselves , '' he told Roger Shields , a Pentagon official working with the former prisoners . `` We said no conditions . That 's why we had to bomb . One of the major reasons we had to bomb . And it worked . ''

CNN 's Athena Jones and Brian Rokus contributed to this report .

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Last round of Watergate tapes include Nixon 's talks with aides , Brezhnev , Kissinger

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After aides resigned , Nixon said he was done with Watergate

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Nixon said he would `` never , never , never , never '' talk about it again

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The White House recordings helped drive him from office more than a year later